Boxing twins Andrew and Jason Moloney chasing world titles

THE greatest twin talents Australian boxing has seen are revving up their world title preparations in the Gold Coast surf, ready to create history.

Jason and Andrew Moloney are brothers in arms who have helped each other throughout their stellar careers and are now ready to make a good fist of bringing world championships home to Australia.

Good things come in small packages and the jockey-sized dynamos are from the Jeff Horn/John Millman school of champion blokes.

The 27-year-olds have steadily risen through the fighting ranks since their humble starts in the sport in Melbourne.

Last week, Andrew, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, scored a spectacular stoppage of Panama’s former world champ Luis Concepcion at the new Bendigo Stadium in Central, Victoria.

He is now a leading contender for the world super-flyweight (52kg) title held by unbeaten Englishman Kal Yafai.

This week Andrew will head to Orlando, Florida with Jason, as his twin brother prepares to face undefeated Puerto Rican Emmanuel Rodriguez on October 20 for the IBF world bantamweight (53.5kg) title once held by Aussie great Jeff Fenech.

Growing up in Melbourne the twins took up boxing with mates just to improve their fitness for Aussie rules football. They were hardly a big hit first up.

Jason, older by a minute, lost his first amateur fight and Andrew lost his first seven.

But sparring with and encouraging each other they quickly became mainstays of the sport and both represented at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games before Andrew won gold in Glasgow four years later.

Now both have unblemished professional records. Jason has 17 wins with 14 KOs and Andrew has 18 wins with 11 KOs.

The brothers share a house at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales, moving up from Melbourne 18 months ago to train under Danny Green’s coach Angelo Hyder. Their manager Tony Tolj is steering them to the very top of the sport.

They are now full-time professional fighters, though Andrew previously had a personal training business and Jason worked as a landscaper and then as a plumber in Melbourne alongside Harry Garside, who won a gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games this year.

“We are very close as most twins tend to be,’’ Andrew said.

“I won’t say that we feel each other’s punches when the other twin gets hit but I know I am certainly more nervous before Jason’s fights than I am before my own.

“We have sparred a lot over the years and for this fight I’m helping out by doing my best to spar with the same style as the world champ.

“Rodriguez is a good boxer with a strong jab but his style is pretty basic, boxing over the front foot. Jason can mix it up a lot more. He has a smooth style. He won a lot of early fights with slick boxing off the back foot but he has become more aggressive over time and is quite a big puncher with only three of his 17 fights going the distance.’’